One of the more intriguing affects that Donald Trump’s presidency (and, prior to that candidacy) has been his ability to have the left and their media allies to say “the quiet part” out loud, discard masks of objectivity, and show little care for the public they serve. Such was the case on Tuesday’s Situation Room as host Wolf Blitzer and assembled guests openly stated their hatred for the “incoherent” and “rambling” Trump who’s “failed the American public.”
Speaking during the President’s 63-minute Rose Garden remarks, Blitzer wondered to senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson: “How badly is he failing right now in dealing with this spiraling crisis?”
Before being cut off so viewers could hear Trump taking questions from reporters, Henderson boasted that “[h]e’s doing terrible” and “gets an ‘F’ in terms of the handling of this global pandemic.”
Shameless hack and White House correspondent John Harwood chimed in after Trump left the podium, huffing that Trump “was rambling all over the place, not expressing coherent thoughts for the most part and then secondly, he avoided the issue that is convulsing the country right now, which is coronavirus.”
“This has now been in the United States for half of a year and the President has not shown any indication in the last few days that he's got a plan for ameliorating this brush fire burning that’s around the country,” he added.
Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta also had some thoughts prior to this pathetic tweet, lamenting how he’s “never seen a President turn the Rose Garden into a campaign rally the way President Trump did in the last — more than an hour” and continued all the normal “myths, the lies, the stretching of the truth and so on.”
Acosta seemed triggered by Trump’s denunciations of China, claiming that Trump “had over three years to solve these problems with China.” Earth to Jim: The coronavirus wasn’t around for the last three years, which has been the brunt of Trump’s (righteous) anger since the start of the pandemic.
But when it comes to narratives in Zuckerville, views to the contrary cannot and will not be allowed.
As for the narrative, Acosta griped that Trump tried amid his “rambling, incoherent” remarks to “essentially create a fairy tale of his own handling of the coronavirus when in fact it's been a gross mishandling.”
Henderson returned before a commercial break and created quite a fine audition tape for a hypothetical Biden White House (click “expand”):
What a low energy speech from this President. A lack of urgency in terms of what his vision for the next four years is, kind of rambling incoherently, I thought, going at Joe Biden....But my goodness. I imagine if there was a crowd there of supporters they would be incredibly bored by this speech and uninspired by the lack of vision for where he wants to — what he wants to do for his voters, what he wants to do for the country going forward....[T]his President has — has basically failed the American public in terms of how he's doing with the coronavirus pandemic. At every turn, he has failed, whether it's not recommending the economy reopen. That's hasn't worked out so well. If you look at the rates of infections in these different states all across the country particularly in southern states where those Republican governors were very much following the President's lead.
So he just seemed all over the place, kind of lost in terms of what his message is going to be...[W]hy was — was this Chinese virus, as he likes to call it, why was it so pervasive? Why wasn’t he able to stop it? Instead, he's been congratulatory in terms of China in the early days of this virus. So, my goodness. I don’t know if this was a speech that was written by his advisers. Clearly at some point he goes off script but what a lazy, lazy effort by this President at a time of urgent crisis in this country.
Don’t ever lose sight of the reality that, for CNN, so much of their jobs is a game and fundamentally unserious, detached from America and the struggles her people have endured in 2020.
CNN’s venom for the President was bought and paid for by ADT, Dicks’s Sporting Goods, and DirecTV. Contact information for those advertisers can be found in the hyperlinks.
To see the relevant transcripts from CNN’s The Situation Room on July 14, click “expand.”
CNN’s The Situation Room
July 14, 2020
6:21 p.m. EasternWOLF BLITZER: You know, Nia, the President using this event in the Rose Garden largely to go after Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, barely addressing the pandemic hardly at all. He did repeat what we just pointed out, what John just poined out, that nonsense claim. He said at one point, if we did half the testing we'd have half the cases. How badly is he failing right now in dealing with this spiraling crisis?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: He's doing terribly. I mean, the President gets an “F” in terms of the handling of this global pandemic. You see in some of these states across the country, the cases are going up.
(....)
6:33 p.m. Eastern
BLITZER: Alright, so there's the President walking out of the Rose Garden. He spent about 63 minutes in the Rose Garden, almost all of it, maybe 50 minutes or so delivering a so-called opening statement, mostly railing against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, started with a statement on China and Hong Kong, but then it quickly, quickly went into a campaign-type speech in the Rose Garden going after Biden on point after point after point. John Harwood is with us right now. John, you had a chance to listen to a lot of what the President was saying. He answered a few questions at the end, maybe 10 or 12 minutes of questions from reporters. That first question, by the way, is do you consider yourself the underdog in this campaign, and he clearly suggested, no, he thinks he's doing just great and is going to go onto win a second term.
JOHN HARWOOD: He's obviously the underdog in the race no matter what he says, and it's hard to imagine him having improved his position at this news conference. First of all, he was rambling all over the place, not expressing coherent thoughts for the most part and then secondly, he avoided the issue that is convulsing the country right now, which is coronavirus. It's wrecked the economy, it has killed 135,000 Americans. It has put the daily lives of American voters into chaos, not certain what's going to happen with businesses and schools in the fall and he barely addressed that other than to blame China for inflicting the plague. This has now been in the United States for half of a year and the President has not shown any indication in the last few days that he's got a plan for ameliorating this brush fire burning that’s around the country.
BLITZER: That’s right. That’s important. Our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is in the Rose Garden. You were there for the entire 63 minutes that the President spent delivering his opening statement and answering a few reporters questions. What jumped out at you, Jim?
JIM ACOSTA: Wolf, I've been here covering the White House for almost eight years. I've never seen a President turn the Rose Garden into a campaign rally the way President Trump did in the last — more than an hour. This — this is obviously the campaign rally he wanted to in New Hampshire that his campaign wasn't able to have last weekend. He instead decided to have it here in the Rose Garden and I mean, you can just go through line byline, section by section of what the President had to say here in almost the same fashion we do with the campaign rallies to debunk, you know, the myths, the lies, the stretching of the truth and so on. That I what took place here in the Rose Garden. Wolf, starting on China, the President went after China repeatedly throughout this that he called a news conference. It was barely a news conference. You know, the President sounded at times like he was the challenger running against an incumbent in the 2020 election. He has had over three years to solve these problems with China. He was praising China for its handling of the virus at the beginning of this pandemic as most Americans should know by now. He attacked Joe Biden repeatedly throughout this event here in the Rose Garden. But one thing that just stood out as a bald-faced lie in terms of what the President had to say, at one point he suggested the wall was almost completed down on the border. I mean, this gets to the extent of what John Harwood was saying a few moments ago there was almost a rambling, unhinged quality to what the President was trying to say here in the Rose Garden. He was also trying to make the case he's been on top of this virus from day one when in reality, Wolf, the virus has been on top of him. He is — he is the President who urged these states to race ahead of the administration's own gating criteria in terms of reopening their economies. Now many of those states are experiencing spikes in coronavirus cases that are causing a lot of back pedaling and a lot of backsliding on the parts of those governors in those states. And then, Wolf, you know, at the very end here, the President was trying to say he's going to be coming out with a new act on immigration here in the coming days. The President can't create law over here at the White House. He can take executive action and so on with immigration policy but he can't create immigration laws out of the White House. That's just a misunderstanding of the law the president has. So by and large, Wolf, what you heard the President talk about is essentially what he would have talked about had he been able give that rally in New Hampshire last weekend. He simply, you know, wasn't able to do it. The campaign blamed it on whether when it was sunny, in fact, and the skies were clearing in New Hampshire that afternoon and he decided to have it here in the Rose Garden. When the White House calls a press conference, as you know Wolf, because you covered the White House, and the press assembles here in the Rose Garden, we expect there to be a number of questions asked of the president. There were only three or four people called on before he raced out of here. He — he spent much of the time, the bulk of the time that he had here for this event attacking Joe Biden, trying to rewrite history and essentially create a fairy tale of his own handling of the coronavirus when in fact it's been a gross mishandling of the pandemic. One other final thing we should point out: There was a Dr. Anthony Fauci mentioned during the President's remarks but almost as if the President was tipping his hat to Dr. Fauci and noting that Dr. Fauci has praised a part of handling of this virus early on in the pandemic. But, Wolf, make no mistake. This wasn't really a news conference. The White House can call it a press conference. This was another one of those rambling, incoherent rally speeches we see the President give out on the campaign trail.
BLITZER: Yeah. He was there as I said for 50 minutes or so on just a campaign-type speech against Joe Biden. A little news — very little news on China, here and there. Hong Kong may be significant, but it was mostly an attack on Joe Biden and then maybe 12, 13 minutes he answered a few reporters questions. Standby, Nia Malika Henderson. I want to get her thoughts as well. What did you think, Nia?
HENDERSON: What a low energy speech from this President. A lack of urgency in terms of what his vision for the next four years is, kind of rambling incoherently, I thought, going at Joe Biden. At one point, attacking Joe Biden for failing to fix the roads and bridges during his time in the White House with President Obama but there was no follow-up, right, from the president saying this is what he's done for infrastructure or any number of things over the last couple of years. I mean, this is obviously a President who likes to give tease kinds of speeches out on the road with an adoring crowd but my goodness. I imagine if there was a crowd there of supporters they would be incredibly bored by this speech and uninspired by the lack of vision for where he wants to — what he wants to do for his voters, what he wants to do for the country going forward. This is President who clearly is looking at these polls, looking at Joe Biden gaining traction in states like Texas, in states like Georgia, in states like North Carolina and trying to figure out how he's going to run against someone like Joe Biden at a time when this President has — has basically failed the American public in terms of how he's doing with the coronavirus pandemic. At every turn, he has failed, whether it's not recommending the economy reopen. That's hasn't worked out so well. If you look at the rates of infections in these different states all across the country particularly in southern states where those Republican governors were very much following the President's lead. So he just seemed all over the place, kind of lost in terms of what his message is going to be. I think the big question for this President is if he can come up with some sort of cohesive argument for why Americans should give him another four years. He talks about, for instance, that he's tough on China. Well, if you're so tough on China, why was — why was — was this Chinese virus, as he likes to call it, why was it so pervasive? Why wasn’t he able to stop it? Instead, he's been congratulatory in terms of China in the early days of this virus. So, my goodness. I don’t know if this was a speech that was written by his advisers. Clearly at some point he goes off script but what a lazy, lazy effort by this President at a time of urgent crisis in this country.
BLITZER: Yeah. Really urgent. Let's not forget more than 136,000 Americans have died over the past four months or so. Hundreds of Americans are dying every single day, and unfortunately, sadly it's going to continue for weeks and months to come. This virus is by no means over.
